Sunday, May 11, 2014

Yesterday at evening Mass the congregation said good-bye to a couple of founding parishioners who had just sold their house in order to move into a progressive-care nursing home. They are good people and I sang with them in the choir. Because of what we are currently going through, I could not help but feel sad for them and maybe for myself a little, too.

When they retired years ago they were very active in the arts, their community and their church. Now they are facing health issues that forces them to give all that up. They are accepting of the new lifestyle God has chosen for them. I realized that I too will some day have to make the same decision.

By chance I ran across a discussion on full timing on the TRVN forum http://www.tiffinrvnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=62379 and saw that people who chose the full-timing lifestyle would all have to make similar decisions and should be smart about financially being able to transition away from full-timing. In other words, having an exit plan. For some, that means having the financial ability to buy a house, rent an apartment and furnish it or move to an assisted living facility. Another choice is to move in with loved ones.

The point of the discussion is that everyone will be forced to make that decision and that transitioning back is a plan everyone needs to have. Failure to plan is a plan for failure.

Does this plan steal your freedom that comes with casting yourself adrift? I don't think so. There are so many different outcomes to this lifestyle that you can plan without crimping your freedoms. You can have a plan in your hip pocket and when the time comes you can execute it. Just have a plan.